I am delighted to have the award-winning blogger and now successful author Andrea Mara with me today on Swirl and Thread for #IrishWritersWed

Andrea is the author of the recently published novel by Poolbeg, The Other Side of The Wall.

With this in mind, Andrea has written a 24-Step Guide toward getting your novel published, with, as Andrea herself described it, a rather tongue-in-cheek approach.

I hope you enjoy!!!

How to become a published author in just 43 years and 24 simple steps

by Andrea Mara

Would you like to write a book?

Here’s what worked for me – just follow my easy step-by-step guide, and you too could have a book on the shelf in a mere four decades.

Do absolutely nothing for the first thirty-odd years. This may sound like you’re simply avoiding being an author, or that it hasn’t dawned on you at all.But that’s not the case.You are in fact living life, something that is essential to later becoming an author. So don’t worry if you’ve done nothing about it so far – writing is not a career with a best before date.

Find someone who will tell you that you should write a book. A good bet is author Margaret Scott who told me I should write a book, but really, just find anyone. Ask your neighbour or your cousin to fill this role – it doesn’t matter who it is. But we all need a nudge, so find your person.

In case you don’t want to ask someone to be that person, let me do it for you. Here goes: You should write a book.

Dive in – just start writing. Don’t stop to think about where you’re going with your story, how it will end, or whether or not it will ever sell – just write.

Spend six months or six years or however long it takes writing your book.

Get to the end and think, “Ha, I’m done! I wrote a book!”

Discover through asking around that you are not in fact done, and this is only the start – realise with horror that you now need to rewrite, edit, and perfect your manuscript before submitting it anywhere at all.

Go back to the drawing board and start editing.

Try not to hate every word of your first draft.

Lose heart, because editing when you don’t know if anyone will ever read is hard.

Drive your significant other or best friend mad with questions about potential plot turns, but then refuse to divulge details because you don’t want to give away the twist.

Lose heart again.

Keep going anyway because you’ve already put so much work into it.

Wonder if you’re throwing good time after bad.

Feel inspired by reading Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, because it’s so well written.

Feel disheartened after reading Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life because it’s so well written.

Submit manuscript to an agent.

Feel no surprise whatsoever when you’re told it’s part domestic noir, part historical fiction and therefore not commercial.

Despite lack of surprise, feel completely devastated and put the book on the virtual shelf for the foreseeable future.

Eventually submit to a publisher and feel no surprise to be told it’s in two genres and is not commercial.

Finally get the message and write a new book that’s not in two genres, because let’s face it, agents and publishers know what they’re talking about.

Voilá, you have a book!

Oh no wait, that’s not the end of it. There’s the editing process, the final sign-off, the cover, the pre-publication promotion, the selling of your soul, and the publication day itself.

That’s all, right? Yes, except for one more rite of passage for the first time author: you should go to a bookshop on publication day expecting to see your book on the shelf, then face bitter disappointment when it’s not there yet. Don’t worry – it can just take a few days, and feeling like you’ve been stabbed in the heart with a rusty tin-opener is all just part of the rollercoaster.

That’s it!

Just follow these simple steps, and you’ll have a book on the shelf in no time. (Or in 43 years if you’re like me.)

Thank you so much Andrea…

I hope you all learnt some very ‘valuable’ tips here today!!

Andrea Mara’s novel, the gripping psychological thriller The Other Side of the Wall is available to purchase HERE

The wonderful Susan Heads aka The Booktrail is also joining in today on #IrishWritersWed , so please do check out Susan’s fab post with a boarding pass to The Other Side of The Wall

About Andrea Mara:

Andrea Mara is a freelance writer, author, and blogger, who lives in Dublin with her husband and three young children. She writes lifestyle features for Irish newspapers, magazines, and websites, and has won a number of awards for blogging.

She attempts – often badly – to balance work, family and writing, then lets off steam on her blog, OfficeMum.ie.

Her first book, a psychological thriller set in South Dublin, is called The Other Side of the Wall and was published by Poolbeg Press this summer.

When Sylvia looks out her bedroom window at night and sees a child face down in the pond next door, she races into her neighbour’s garden. But the pond is empty, and no-one is answering the door.

Wondering if night feeds and sleep deprivation are getting to her, she hurriedly retreats. Besides, the fact that a local child has gone missing must be preying on her mind. Then, a week later, she hears the sound of a man crying through her bedroom wall.

The man living next door, Sam, has recently moved in. His wife and children are away for the summer and he joins them at weekends. Sylvia finds him friendly and helpful, yet she becomes increasingly uneasy about him.

Then Sylvia’s little daughter wakes one night, screaming that there’s a man in her room. This is followed by a series of bizarre disturbances in the house.

Sylvia’s husband insists it’s all in her mind, but she is certain it’s not – there’s something very wrong on the other side of the wall.